<<This building is a symbol of the progress my administration, our Economic Development Department and the Nassau IDA are making in re-invigorating Nassau County's economy and adding new jobs. We must bring companies like Rechler Equity to Nassau County, because so many jobs have been lost as a result of the stagnant economy."

Rechler's new headquarters replaced an obsolete, vacant industrial building that the Rechler's constructed 53 years ago. The $7.7 million project brought 28 full-time well-paying to Nassau County, created 100 full-time equivalent construction jobs, and is expected to provide $11 million in economic benefits to the County. The Rechler Equity bond deal was the first action undertaken by a reconstituted IDA after the county executive took office.>>

Hmmm.. obsolete building constructed a long time ago... sound familiar? 28 jobs - nice, but not compared to how many the County will lose if the Coliseum is the shuttered.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

I tweeted about this last night during the OT intermission but here's a Toronto Sun story on the 20,000 seat arena that has moved closer to fruition in Markham, Ontario (about 25 miles Northeast of the city).

<<One of the big draws for the complex would be a second National Hockey League team for the GTA, but Roustan, CEO of GTA Sports & Entertainment, and Bratty, head of the Remington Group of developers, insisted their plans do not rely on landing a second franchise.

The developers said Live Nation, a partner in the project, will book events that are expected to attract 780,000 annual paying visitors.>>

Meanwhile in Nassau County, we have this town councilman suggesting the Coliseum project should be done the way Fenway Park was built -- 100 years ago (which some might argue is actually a bit progressive for Nassau.)

Of course of those UFAs the one Islander fans will be most interested in is Micheal Haley. Will he back? Would he want to try a different organization? Has he shown enough in limited NHL time that a team would give him a 1-way deal?

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Monday, April 23, 2012

In NHL history 324 series have been 3-games-2 and the team ahead wins nearly 80% of them (257-67).184 of the the 324 have ended in six games.Of the ones going 7, the team leading 3-2 has gone 73-67.

The numbers are even more dramatic when you look at how Ottawa has gotten to this point in their series with the Rangers (winning games 2, 4, and 5 after losing games 1,3)

That has happened 32 times before, and the team leading has gone on to win the series 26 times (26-6).16 of the 32 have ended in six games.Of the ones going 7, the team leading 3-2 has 10-6 in game 7.

Since the NHL went to a best of 7 first round, teams such as Ottawa (LWLWW) have won 12 of 14 series.

The Rangers haven't played game 7 at the Garden since June 14, 1994 (and we all know how that turned out). If they can get there, they'll look to avoid joining (ironically) the Canucks as the first pair of #1 seeds to be eliminated in the first round.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Matt Moulson has been named a finalist for the Lady Byng Award. The other finalists are Edmonton's Jordan Eberle and Florida's Brian Campbell.

Campbell is looking to become the first defenseman to win the award since Red Kelly in 1953-54. Like Moulson, he drew only three penalties all season.

Eberle is the "goon" of the bunch, having drawn five penalties. Eberle was 34-42-76 this season while Moulson was 36-33-69. Moulson, who has not been penalized in 2012, is the first player since Paul Kariya in 1996-97 to score at least 30 goals and have single digit penalty minutes.

Marty St. Louis won the award each of the last two seasons, after Pavel Datsyuk had won it in all four years since the lockout.The Islanders have had two players win the award: Mike Bossy won it three times (82-83, 83-84 and 85-86); Pierre Turgeon won it in 1992-93. Two other players with Islander ties have also won the award: Phil Goyette, who later served as the Islanders' first coach, won it in 1969-70 with St. Louis while Butch Goring won it for Los Angeles in 1977-78 before winning four Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe Trophy with the Islanders.

The award is one of the NHL's oldest, having been presented continuous since 1924-25. Frank Boucher won it 7x in the 20s and 30s. Since then only Datysuk (4x), Kelly (4x) and Wayne Gretzky (5x) have won it more often than Bossy.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Whowins.com provides historical data related to best-of-7 series. They have some interesting numbers relating to the Rangers' series with Ottawa.

They note that 61 previous times in NHL history a team (in a best-of-7 series) has won game 1 and 3 while losing game 2 and 4. This is the position the Rangers find themselves heading into tonight's game at the Garden.

Those teams in the Rangers' position have won only 25 of the previous 61 series (41%). It's happened 23 previous times in the round of 16, and the team in the Rangers' position has won only 9 of 23 (39%).

The Isles, btw, have never played a series in which they won games 1 and 3 and lost games 2 and 4. They have played one series in which they were in Ottawa's position (losing games 1, 3 and winning games 2, 4) but it did not turn out in their favor. The 1979 Rangers beat them in games 5 and 6.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

So in a season nothing went right for Columbus, it didn't end well either. Edmonton won the draft lottery, dropping Columbus from 1st pick to 2nd pick.

Unlike last year, when New Jersey's lottery win dropped the Isles from 4th to 5th, the Isles retained the 4rh pick.

How good could the 4th pick be?

Well, the Isles have picked 4th three previous times in their history. One is in the Hall of Fame (Clark Gillies), one likely will be (Roberto Luongo, although not for his brief stay on Long Island) and the third was Scott Lachance, who played over 800 games in the NHL including the 1997 All-Star Game.

Recent 4th overall picks:

2011: Adam Larsson

2010: Ryan Johansen

2009: Evander Kane

2008: Alex Pietrangelo

2007: Thomas Hickey (LA)

2006: Nicklas Backstrom

2005: Benoit Pouliot

2004: Andrew Ladd

2003: Nikolai Zherdev

2002; Jani Pitkanen

2001: Stephen Weiss

2000: Rotislav Klesla

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Monday, April 09, 2012

Late Elias notes from last week:

<<From Elias: Michael Grabner's goal with 47 seconds remaining in the third period snapped a 4-4 tie and earned the Islanders a 5-4 win against the Jets. It was only the second time in the last nine seasons that an Islanders player scored a tiebreaking goal in the last minute of the third period. The only other Islander to do that since 2002-03 was Mike Sillinger on Feb. 19, 2007 against the Penguins.

From Elias: The Phoenix Coyotes clinched the first division title in their NHL franchise history with a win at Minnesota. Entering play this season the Coyotes, who entered the NHL as the Winnipeg Jets in 1979-80 and moved to Phoenix in 1996, had the longest current streak without a first-place finish of any NHL team. That dubious distinction now belongs to the Edmonton Oilers, whose last division title was won in 1986-87. The Islanders' current drought (last first-place finish in 1987-88) is only one season shorter than Edmonton's.>>

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

The lottery is conducted with the selection of four balls from a pool of 14. Once a ball is chosen, it is not replaced (so each ball can be selected only once). As if turns out, there are 24,024 possible "permutations" that can be chosen. However, when you change it to combinations (ie 1-2-3-4 is the same result as 4-3-2-1 or 2-3-4-1.... or 21 other permutations), there are only (24,024 divided by 24 = ) 1,001 possible results.

One of those 1,001 is thrown out (I don't believe that the NHL has ever identified which one it is) and the others are assigned to each of the teams.

Here are the odds of winning the lottery:

30th place team – Columbus-- 25.0% (but they have a 48.2% chance of retaining first pick as teams can only move up four spots) 29th place team – Edmonton-- 18.8% 28th place team -- Montreal-- 14.2% 27th place team – Islanders-- 10.7% 26th place team –Toronto-- 8.1% 25th place team –Anaheim-- 6.2% 24th place team –Minnesota-- 4.7% 23rd place team –Carolina-- 3.6% 22nd place team – 2.7% 21st place team – 2.1% 20th place team – 1.5% 19th place team – 1.1% 18th place team – 0.8% 17th place team – 0.5%

So, the Isles have a 10.7% chance of winning the lottery and picking 1st.If Toronto, Anaheim, Minnesota or Carolina win the lottery, the Isles will pick 5th (22.6%) -- this is what happened last year when Isles dropped from 4th to 5th when NJ won the lotteryOtherwise the Isles will pick 4th (65.7%)

The lottery will be held on Tuesday and televised beginning at 8:00 on NBC Sports Network and TSN.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 82

Blue Jackets 7, Isles 3

In the final game of the season, Cam Atkinson scored two goals and added an assist as Columbus never and defeated the Islanders 7-3 in front of 17,652 at Nationwide Arena.The Isles lost four of their final five games and finish with 79 points for the third time in five seasons.

The Scoring:

1st Period

19:24 EV CBJ 61 R.NASH(30) 17 M.LETESTU(14) 22 V.PROSPAL(38)

2nd Period

4:15 EV CBJ 13 C.ATKINSON(6) unassisted

7:32 EV NYI 27 M.JURCINA(3) 51 F.NIELSEN(30) 40 M.GRABNER(12)

11:12 EV CBJ 18 R.UMBERGER(20) 13 C.ATKINSON(7) 16 D.BRASSARD(26)

13:11 EV NYI 21 K.OKPOSO(24) 27 M.JURCINA(8)

18:48 PP CBJ 21 J.WISNIEWSKI(6) 22 V.PROSPAL(39) 7 J.JOHNSON(26)

19:31 PP CBJ 13 C.ATKINSON(7) 15 D.DORSETT(8) 21 J.WISNIEWSKI(20)

3rd Period

4:41 EV CBJ 7 J.JOHNSON(12) 21 J.WISNIEWSKI(21) 16 D.BRASSARD(27)

11:03 EV CBJ 22 V.PROSPAL(16) 6 N.NIKITIN(25)

16:27 EV NYI 40 M.GRABNER(20) 2 M.STREIT(40) 42 D.REESE(6)

The Skinny Cam Atkinson, who had a hat trick in Columbus' last game, scored five goals in five periods before being stopped in the third period.By tallying three times in the final two games, Michael Grabner reached twenty goals for the second straight season and gave the Isles four 20 goal scorers.The 7-goals against were a season-high; the Isles also allowed seven goals in last season's finale.

The Shots:

Isles 10-21-7=38

Jackets10-15-12=37

Home and Road

The Islanders finished the season 34-37-11 overall, 17-19-5 on the road and 17-18-6 at home. All-time, the Isles are 21-13-5 in road finales and 19-16-4 in their final game of the regular season. The Isles finish 27th overall and will enter Tuesday's draft lottery with a 10.7% chance of winning the top overall pick.

Columbus finishes 29-46-7 overall and finish their home season with a 17-21-3 record. Columbus finishes last overall, and will have nearly a 50% chance to retain the first pick in the upcoming entry draft.

In the Nets

Al Montoya stopped 30 shots but finishes 9-11-5 on the season.

Steve Mason made 35 saves for Columbus and improves to 16-26-3. Shawn Hunwick made his NHL debut and played the final 2:33; he did not face a shot.

Power Plays

The Isles went 0-2 on the power play while Columbus was 2-3. The Isles, after scoring power play goals in six straight games, finish the season 0-10 in the final five games. The Isles killed 25 of their final 31.

The Isles finish the road season 25-112 (tied-1st in NHL with Colorado at 22.3%) on the power play and 24-120 (80.0%) on the penalty kill.

The Isles were 45-243 (18.5%) overall on the power play and 46-236 (80.5%) overall on the penalty kill. Their 243 power play chances were the fewest for a full season since they had 240 in an 80-game schedule in 1976-77; their 236 times short are a club record for a full season (and only 23 more than they had in the 48-game 1995 season).Their 45 power play goals tied their fewest since 1973-74 while the 46 goals allowed were the second-fewest in club history (45 in 1977-78).

They Said It

Matt Moulson: "Our goal was to make the playoffs, and obviously that didn't happen.We'll come back next season with that goal and figure out what's going to get us there."

They Tweeted It

@StapeNewsday: Jurcina's goal is 19th by #Isles D this season. Erik Karlsson (OTT) and Shea Weber (NSH) each had 19 this year.

The Coach

"The first and second periods we had close to 18 chances and close to 40 shots and we couldn't score. We were right there and then their two power-play goals killed us."

Leading Ice Men

Mark Streit led the Isles with 21:59; Former Islander James Wisniewksi led Columbus with 26:03. Wisniewski also had a goal and two assists in the contest.

In the Circle

The Islanders won 28 draws; the Jackets won 29.Frans Nielsen won 8 of 13 for the Isles; Mark Letestu won 8 of 12 for the Jackets.

Heavy Hitters

The Islanders were out-hit 18-12. Matt Martin led the Isles with five hits, extending his NHL-record total to 374 hits (hits have only been recorded since 2005-06).Martin, who also was in two fights tonight, recorded 15 of the team's 27 fighting majors this season; Micheal Haley was also in a fight, his seventh in 14 games played.

Lots of Blocks

The Isles were credited with 9 blocks.They finish the season with an NHL-leading 1,364.

Goals by Period (Season)

Isles:65-66-62-3 = 196

Opponents: 73-78-93-7 = 251

Third period goals include 10 empty net goals for the Islanders and an NHL-leading 14 empty-net goals against the Isles.The Isles allowed a league-leading 93 goals in the third period; one more than Columbus.

111 of their 196 goals came from four players: Moulson (36), Tavares (31), Okposo (24) and Grabner (20).

All-time Winners

The Islanders finish the season two games over all-time NHL .500 (1347-1345-432 in 3,124 games). The Isles have twice this season been one game below .500. Prior to this season, they had not been below NHL .500 since they were 177-178-83 prior to their victory on January 16, 1978.

Scoring

The Isles scored 113 goals in their 34 wins (3.30 per game) and 83 goals in their other 48 games (0-37-11; 1.73 per game).In their 37 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 52 goals (1.41 per game).

Head of the Class

John Tavares has 202 career points; he is 52 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks.No other player in that draft is anywhere close. Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player in that draft.

Longest Point Streaks in NHL, Last 2 Seasons

·Sidney Crosby, 25 games (11/5/10-12/28/10)

·Pascal Dupuis, 17 games (CURRENT)

·Eric Staal, 12 games (2/8/12-3/6/12)

·John Tavares, 12 games (12/29/11-1/21/12)

·Ilya Kovalchuk 12 games (2/1/11-2/25/11)

Friends, Friends, Friends

Moulson had 36 goals this season; John Tavares earned assists on 24 of them.He has now been on-ice for 60 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 40 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa.

103 NHL Goals

Moulson has 103 career goals (97 as an Islander).While 262 players were selected ahead of Moulson in the 2003 entry draft, only 17 have more goals.

Road Warrior

23 of Moulson's 36 goals came on the road.Only Steven Stamkos (24) had more.

Powerful

14 of Moulson's goals came on the power play.Only James Neal (18) and Scott Hartnell (16) have more.Moulson is the first Islander since Jason Blake (14 in 2006-07) to have 14 power play goals in a season.

30-30-30

Matt Moulson is the first Islander since Ziggy Palffy (1995-96 to 1997-98) to have at least three consecutive 30-goal seasons. Only 4 players in Islander history have had more thirty goal seasons: Trottier (11), Bossy (10), Gillies (6), LaFontaine (6). Moulson has 97 goals as an Islander – the most by any Islander since the lockout. Moulson has opened the scoring an NHL-leading 12 times this season and the Isles are 10-1-1 when he does so.He is the first Islander with at least 12 opening goals since Alexei Yashin had 12 in 2001-02.

36-Goal Club

Moulson is the first Islander to score at least 36 goals since Jason Blake, who tallied 40 goals in 2006-07. Moulson and Blake are the only Islanders since Ziggy Palffy (1997-98) to record at least 36 goals.

30-30

Tavares and Moulson give the Isles two 30-goal scorers for the second straight season (Grabner 34, Moulson 31 last year). Prior to last year, the Isles had not had two 30-goal scorers since 2001-02 (Alexei Yashin & Mark Parrish).It's the first time since 1992-93 and 1993-94 that the Isles have had multiple 30-goal scorers in consecutive seasons (4 in both 92-93 and 93-94).

20-20-20 x 2

Moulson and Tavares are the first Islander teammates to record at least twenty goals in three straight seasons since Mark Parrish and Jason Blake did so in 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2005-06.Tavares is the fifth player to score at least 20 goals for the Islanders in each of his first three NHL seasons, joining:

John Tavares has 81 points (32-49-81) on 196 Islander goals this season (41.3%), joining Zigmund Palffy (41.0% in 1997-98) as the only Islanders to record points on over 40% of the team's goals in a complete season.Tavares is the first Islander since Palffy (87 in 1997-98) to record 81 points in a season.

Tavares is the third player in Islander history to record at least 81 points at age 21 or younger.The others have banners hanging at the Coliseum: Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier.(Denis Potvin had 76 points as a 21-year old.)

Tavares Passes PA

PA Parenteau has led the Islanders in assists for most of the season and recently became the first Islander to have at least 49 assists since Pierre Turgeon had in 1993-94.However, Tavares passed Parenteau on Thursday, making him the first Islander to reach 50 in the last eighteen seasons.

The Isles had three players with at least 67 points (Tavares, Moulson, Parenteau).It's the first time since 1993-94 that the Isles have at least three players with 67 points.

Captain, My Captain

Mark Streit finished with 47 points.He joins a select group of Islander defensemen to record 47 points at least three times in his career, and the 1st to do so that frequently in nearly a quarter-century:

Only three other Islander defenders have recorded 40 points in the 2000s: Tom Poti (2006-07), Adrian Aucoin (2003-04) and Roman Hamrlik (2000-01 and 2002-03).

Streit had 40 assists this season, which is two more than he recorded in 2009-10. Streit also joins D. Potvin and Persson as the only Isles defenders to have at least 3 seasons with at least 38 assists (Potvin -10x, Persson - 3x)Streit now has had two seasons with 40 assists as an Islander; no Islander defensemen has had more since Vladimir Malakhov (47) in 1993-94.

Ironman

Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 246 games since joining the team.Moulson's streak is the longest for an Islander in the Post-Cup era and the 4th longest in club history. Billy Harris played in the first 576 games in Islander history; that figure still stands as the club record.

Frans Nielsen, John Tavares and Mark Streit also played in every game this season.It's the first time that the Isles have had four players play in every game since 1986-87. Tavares has now played in 160 consecutive games, while Nielsen and Streit have each played in 82.

Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Islander History

1. Billy Harris 576

2. Bob Nystrom 301

3. Denis Potvin 262

4. Matt Moulson 246

Okposo in the Groove

Kyle Okposo has scored 22 of his 24 goals since the start of December.Okposo has scored 57 of his 68 career goals from December-April.It's the first time in his career that Okposo has recorded at least 20 goals in a season.

Missing Men

Casey Cizikas (upper body), PA Parenteau (injured), Dylan Reese (healthy) and Evgeni Nabokov (injured) were scratched. Rick DiPietro is on injured reserve.The Isles have lost 351 man-games to injury so far this season. John Grahame served as the back-up.

Career Years

·Matt Moulson: 36 goals, 33 assists and 69 points are new career highs.

·PA Parenteau: 49 assists and 67 points are new career highs. He finishes with 18 goals, two shy of his career best.

·John Tavares: 32 goals, 49 assists and 81 points are new career highs.

·Frans Nielsen: 17 goals and 47 assists are new career-highs.

·Travis Hamonic: 22 assists is a new career high.

·Andrew MacDonald: 5 goals are a new career-high.

·Matt Martin: 7 goals are a new career high.He finishes with 14 points, two shy of his career best.

The Jackets win the only meeting of the teams this season.The Isles have never won in regulation in Columbus (Jackets are 6-0-2).

Happy Anniversary

5 years ago today (4-7-07):On the next to last day of the regular season (and also the day before Easter), the Islanders extend their playoff hopes with a 4-2 win in Philadelphia. A shootout victory in New Jersey the following day sends them to the playoffs.

All-time, the Isles are 3-5-0 on this date in regular season play.

On The Farm

The Sound Tigers, who had won seven straight games, lost to Providence 4-2. Bridgeport is 39-25-3-6 overall. They have 87 points, five ahead of Connecticut for the division lead, and also holds the tie-breaker. Connecticut has four games to play and the Sound Tigers three. Bridgeport, who has already clinched a playoff spot, concludes their regular season with three games in three days next weekend.